Will Markets See A Summer Rally?
Stocks opened lower Thursday
as the markets were marred by earnings warnings
and remained lower throughout the day.
The question most investors and traders are asking is “Will there be a
Summer rally?” Looking forward, we can only guess as to whether the rate
cuts the Federal Reserve has provided us will be sufficient to bring the markets
out of the current doldrums they are in.
The major indexes closed off the lows
of the day with the Dow Jones Industrials closing 0.8% lower, as the Nasdaq Composite
slid 2.8%. Volume was light for the session.
Stocks rising today included retailer
Dollar Tree Stores
(
DLTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) (which gained 6.6% after announcing better-than-expected sales for
Q2) and 99 Cent Only Stores
(
NDN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) tacked on
8.4%
after the company announced retail sales for Q2 were up 27.1% over the same quarter one
year ago.
Gaining in trading also was SFBC
International
(
SFCC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which rose 7.1%.
Cirrus Logic
(
CRUS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) tacked on
3.3%.
Only four indexes ended in the green
this session.
The Oil Index
(
$XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) led the
way up gaining 1.1%, followed by the Oil Services Index
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which
moved higher by 0.9%.
It was a tight race between the Forest
& Paper Index
(
$FPP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which closed up 0.5% and the Chemical Index
(
$CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
which closed up 0.1%.
Among individual stocks sliding during
the session: Alcatel SA
(
ALA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 16.8% in sympathy with Marconi
(
MONI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
after MONI warned that the companies operating profits for the current fiscal
year would be lower by 50% vs. profits of one year ago.
Colt Telecom Group
(
COLT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also
lost 16.1%.
Parametric Technology
(
PMTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
dropped 18.1% after the company announced that Q3 earnings will be less than
previously forecasted. The company lowered their earnings forecast to between
2 to 4 cents from 6 to 10 cents. According to a survey conducted by Thomson
Financial/First Call, analysts expected earnings to be between 6 to 9 cents with
a mean of 8 cents.
Indexes losing ground were the
Biotechnology Index
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which shed 4.6%; the Interactive Week
Internet Index
(
$IIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which lost 4.4%; followed by the Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
which closed lower by 3.1%